SPRING HILL — A retired 25-year deputy with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office was arrested early Wednesday on a charge of attempted murder of his wife after an argument during which he threatened to "put an end to her," authorities said.

The Hernando County Sheriff's Office said that William Tinny, 51, was being held in the Hernando County Detention Center without bail after firing a pistol at his wife, Rebecca Tinny, during a physical altercation inside their Spring Hill home.

According to a Sheriff's Office report, deputies responded to a 911 call about 2:10 a.m. from a residence regarding a domestic dispute. They arrived and spoke with Rebecca Tinny, who told them that she and her husband had been engaged in a verbal altercation earlier in the evening.

According to a report, Rebecca Tinny had retreated to the master bedroom with one of the couple's two children and was asleep when she was awakened by her husband, who threatened to kill her.

The report said that Rebecca Tinny and her younger child were locked in the bedroom when William Tinny broke the frame and force his way inside with a Taurus 1911 .45-caliber pistol, which he pointed her.

Rebecca Tinny told authorities that the gun went off after she reached out to push her husband's arm away to keep him from shooting her. The bullet passed within inches of her head before hitting the wall over the bed. She said that after she screamed for help, her older son ran in from another bedroom and wrestled the gun away from her husband.

Authorities said a preliminary investigation into the incident revealed that the pistol malfunctioned during an attempt to fire a second shot. The incident, including the gunshot, could be heard in the 911 call made from the home. Authorities did not make the recording available Wednesday.

Hernando County sheriff's spokeswoman Denise Moloney said there had been no previous domestic violence calls from the Tinny home.

A spokeswoman for the Pasco Sheriff's Office said Tinny retired as a sergeant from the department in June 2010. He served much of his career as a courtroom bailiff, but records show he also worked as corrections supervisor at the Pasco County jail.

In 1991, Tinny, then a six-year veteran of the force, received a letter of reprimand and a demotion from then-Pasco Sheriff Jim Gillum for failing to take appropriate action when a sheriff's employee used the jail's intercom system to joke with inmates.

Staff writer Rich Shopes contributed to this report. Logan Neill can be reached at lneill@tampabay.com or (352) 848-1435.